| In an article entitled "Will GPS Make Us Dumb?" that | | | | process management (BPM). Here are some excerpts |
| expounded on advances in GPS technology, ABC | | | | with my interpretation: |
| News quoted Ian White, founder and CEO of Urban | | | | First thing's first: "Decide on what problem you're |
| Mapping this way: | | | | solving and how to know when you've solved it." |
| "When we develop a crutch for technology, we lose | | | | Business process management (BPM) itself can be |
| the ability to do that which we did previously." | | | | complicated, simply because you're changing the way |
| As the organizational approach to business process | | | | people work. As with any problem, identifying the end |
| management (BPM) develops over time, there have | | | | goal (e.g., reduced time spent on a task, less resources |
| been many discussions around which technology or | | | | required to complete a task, etc.) helps to quantify how |
| software suite will make optimization of existing | | | | close you are to it. |
| processes easier to manage. There are many schools | | | | Next, don't be overly concerned with automated |
| of thought around which BPM system will best assist in | | | | integration too early in your assessment. |
| creating the "perfect process". Tibco, Lombardi, | | | | It's very easy to weigh system integration as a "pro" |
| Savvion, Skelta, Cordys... the list goes on. But, you can't | | | | more heavily than other benefits of the overall offering. |
| help but wonder if the fundamentals of the BPM | | | | Understanding your business needs well help avoid |
| discipline are being overshadowed by our own | | | | being distracted by bells and whistles that are not |
| obsession with technology. | | | | must-haves. |
| There is some validity to the idea that, as we rely | | | | Remember to "manage the change". |
| more on technological innovation, we lose a bit of our | | | | Organizational change management is key to a BPM |
| edge in practicing the tasks necessary to be | | | | implementation. Forgetting to educate staff and |
| successful should (god forbid) this technology ever | | | | support teams can quickly undermine even the best |
| disappear from our organization's arsenal. Put more | | | | solutions. Quantifying your success with periodic |
| succinctly: Is technology itself making us dumb? The | | | | measures of progress will be sure to convince |
| truth of it all is that BPM is more about business | | | | skeptics who may not have been on board from the |
| process and behavior than tools. It's a good thing too, | | | | start. Also, don't be afraid to ask skeptics and |
| since many organizations at this time have limited | | | | proponents alike for feedback. Constructive criticism |
| resources needed to invest in software, support, | | | | will help in making the deployed solution better for |
| licensing, and maintenance. | | | | most, if not all, users involved. |
| While the IT PPM article in the March 8, 2010 issue of | | | | Remembering to stick to the fundamentals of why we |
| InformationWeek is mostly about using project portfolio | | | | look to business process management (BPM) in the |
| management, there is good advice that can be applied | | | | first place will keep things in perspective and help keep |
| to getting back to the fundamentals of business | | | | us on track for a successful implementation. |